ABSTRACT
The chapter provides an overview of talent development research, including consideration of the various definitions and activities deemed indicative of talent development. In addition to connecting talent development to a strategy whereby investments should be informed by and aligned to strategic ambitions and goals, we note two ways to frame development: the development of specific individuals identified as talent and/or the development of particular talent pools. The chapter also reveals how differentiation between leadership and talent development studies is challenging given the shared emphasis on enhancing the skills, attributes and experiences of specific individuals identified as future leaders or targeted talent pools. This challenge is compounded by the absence of empirical studies which frame talent development and leadership development as discrete research areas and specific discussion of development practices in the various talent management literature reviews.
